Instructions

ZOOM IN by clicking on the page. A slider will appear, allowing you to adjust your zoom level. Return to the original size by clicking on the page again.

MOVE the page around when zoomed in by dragging it.

ADJUST the zoom using the slider on the top right.

ZOOM OUT by clicking on the zoomed-in page.

SEARCH by entering text in the search field and click on "In This Issue" or "All Issues" to search the current issue or the archive of back issues respectively. If you would like to clear the your search, click on your browser refresh button.

PRINT by clicking on thumbnails to select pages, and then press the
print button.

SHARE this publication and page.

ROTATE PAGE allows you to turn pages 90 degrees clockwise or counterclockwise.Click on the page to return to the original orientation. To zoom in on a rotated page, return the page to its original orientation, zoom in, and
then rotate it again.

CONTENTS displays a table of sections with thumbnails and descriptions.

ALL PAGES displays thumbnails of every page in the issue. Click on
a page to jump.

24 Policy • Vol. 31 No. 1 • Autumn 2015
As AustrAliAN As the FAir Go
Soutphommasane’s forebodings are not only
deeply patronizing and highly insulting to his
fellow Australians. His self-serving assessment
fundamentally mistakes and exaggerates the role
anti-discrimination laws have played in the making
of modern Australia. The idea that amending the
RDA will unleash the so-called darker side of the
Australian character is simply a scare campaign.
I base this assessment not only on my
understanding of our history, but also based on my
own family and personal experiences of the freedom
and equality of opportunity all comers enjoy without
encountering race-based structural impediments.
(For the record, my paternal grandparents emigrated
from Malta in the 1920s.) What dismays me is that
Soutphommasane, together with the human rights
lawyers and ethnic leaders who have campaigned for
the retention of Section 18C, appear to be strangers
in their own country. They not only ignore whole
chunks of our national history, but their indictment
of the nation’s racism is obviously wrong to anyone
who cares to have an honest look at the real qualities
of contemporary Australian society that encourage
hundreds of thousands of migrants to settle here
every year.
Q&A: ‘RDA Withers but the Fair Go Persists’
It is the RDA, and not the efforts to amend Section
18C, that is alien to culture of tolerance in Australia.
This is to say that if the RDA withers, and Section
18C is cut down as it should be, the “fair go” culture
that has made multi-racial Australia a success will
persist.
Tolerance, one might say, is as Australian as the
fair go. Might this statement possibly serve as the
kernel of an answer to what now will inevitably be
the “gotcha,” Q&A-style question directed at those
who propose revisiting Section 18C. That question
is likely to be some version of the following: So you
agree with George Brandis that Australians should
have the right to be bigots? For whatever it’s worth,
this would be my answer to the question of how we
walk the Section 18C amendments back from the
‘right to be bigots’:
No, I don’t accept that Australians are
bigots, and I don’t think they want the right
to be bigots. Our history has proved that
the Australian people can be trusted to do
the right thing, and don’t need politicians
and lawyers to lecture them on how to treat
people decently. We don’t like or accept
the vilification of any individual or group
in the community. We recognise that
prejudice and saying racist things to people
from different backgrounds is a lousy thing
to do, and we rightly take pride in our long
history of accepting migrants from around
the world, who have made a wonderful
contribution. Amending Section 18C, so
that the Racial Discrimination Act won’t
stop us talking about important issues
because someone doesn’t like someone
else’s opinion, won’t alter that. Nothing
being proposed will foster bigotry because,
in our multicultural society, we believe in
tolerance and mutual respect and getting
along, because Australians believe in giving
each other a “fair go.”
Endnotes
1 Chris Berg, In Defence of Freedom of Speech: From Ancient
Greece to Andrew Bolt, Melbourne: Institute of Public
Affairs, 2012.
2 Jeremy Sammut, “18C and the Left’s Muzzling of Dissent.”
Quadrant, July-August 2014.
3 David Leyonhjelm, “Nothing makes up for silence.” The
Australian, 7 August, 2014.
4 Jeremy Sammut, “The Multicultural Mindset,” in After the
Riot: The Meaning for Multicultural Australia, Issue Analysis
135, Sydney: The Centre for Independent Studies, 2012.
5 David Goodhart, The British Dream: Successes and Failures
of Post-War Immigration. London: Atlantic Books, 2013.
6 John Hirst, Australia’s Democracy: A Short History. Canberra:
Commonwealth of Australia, 2002, p. 242.
7 For the long version, see Jeremy Sammut, “The Long
Demise of the White Australia Policy,” Quadrant, November
2005.
I don’t accept that Australians are bigots,
and I don’t think they want the right
to be bigots.